Review: USA's 'Satisfaction' Is A Solid Series With A Sustainability Problem

Between FX’s You’re The Worst, Married and now USA’s Satisfaction, cable television seems to be on a real mission this summer to challenge the traditional ideals of being in a “happy relationship.” But, where USA has succeeded over its grittier FX counterparts is it takes the ideas way more seriously, and thus, makes them more relatable. However, the problem is by using a drama format over comedy, a new problem has emerged, that of sustainability.

Satisfaction follows the adventures of Neil Truman who, after realizing how dull his life has become, quits his job and upon returning home to tell his wife about his new found meaning of existence, finds her cheating on him with another man. As Neil begins to unravel his wife’s infidelity, he learns the other man in question was actually a male escort. Following a confrontation, Neil obtains the man’s phone and begins taking over the role of escort to the clients, all while hiding it from his wife.

One of the more admirable things Satisfaction does in the pilot is paint a picture where both Neil and his wife Grace are equally at fault. Just when one is about to paint Grace as the enemy, we watch Neil make choices that put him on even ground. Suddenly, the series takes on this meaning of asking the audience how much truth can there really be in a relationship for it to be “happy?” FX’s You’re The Worst asked a similar question by forcing its characters to be 100% honest with each other. In Satisfaction, while the opposite approach is taken (that of increasing the amount of lies), the results are the same.

The biggest problem that comes up with Satisfaction is its sustainability as a series. It’s easy to see what the pilot looks like. It’s easy to imagine what episode two could be. But what about episode five? Ten? Thirteen? Twenty? Forty? If Satisfaction were a low-budget indie film, it would obtain high praise for its challenging morals, sharp writing and rather excellent acting, but as a TV series, all those good qualities come under scrutiny when one considers how far a series like this can go.

Would someone want to invest time in a series that doesn’t paint itself with much of a future? This isn’t a mini-series, and USA wants Satisfaction to become their next Suits. To its credit, the series did do the one thing that matters most on the small screen: it thought about its characters first and premise second, but now that it’s fleshed out its characters, it’s time to start thinking about how long its premise can last. One has to imagine at some point that the lives of Neil and Grace will come crashing down and the two will have to admit their faults to each other, and one has to also imagine how long that can be avoided without making both characters look like idiots.

Character driven drama on basic cable is no easy task, just ask Men of a Certain Age. The good news is Satisfaction isn’t just about some guy becoming a male escort to feed his mid-life crisis. It’s a complex narrative about the modern-day state of love and marriage. However, the bad news is it doesn’t feel like a series with much of a shelf life, and in television, without that (or a guaranteed end date provided by a mini-series), there’s not much for the audience to latch on to in the long run.